Esias 30
1 Woe to the apostate children, says the Lord: you have framed counsel, not by me, and covenants not by my Spirit, to add sins to sins:
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
2 [even] they that proceed to go down into Egypt, but they have not enquired of me, that they might be helped by Pharao, and protected by the Egyptians.
They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.
3 For the protection of Pharaoh shall be to you a disgrace, and [there shall be] a reproach to them that trust in Egypt.
But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.
4 For there are princes in Tanes, evil messengers.
For though their princes are at Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 In vain shall they labour [in seeking] to a people, which shall not profit them for help, but [shall be] for a shame and reproach.
everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They cannot be of help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.”
6 THE VISION OF THE QUADRUPEDS IN THE DESERT. In affliction and distress, [where are] the lion and lion's whelp, thence [come] also asps, and the young of flying asps, [there shall they be] who bore their wealth on asses and camels to a nation which shall not profit them.
This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.
7 The Egyptians shall help you utterly in vain: tell them, This your consolation is vain.
Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
8 Now then sit down and write these words on a tablet, and in a book; for these things shall be for [many long] days, and even for ever.
Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.
9 For the people is disobedient, false children, who would not hear the law of God:
These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.
10 who say to the prophets, Report not to us; and to them that see visions, Speak [them] not to us, but speak and report to us another error;
They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
11 and turn us aside from this way; remove from us this path, and remove from us the oracle of Israel.
Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you have refused to obey these words, and have trusted in falsehood; and because you have murmured, and been confident in this respect:
Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,
13 therefore shall this sin be to you as a wall suddenly falling when a strong city has been taken, of which the fall is very near at hand.
this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly— in an instant!
14 And the fall thereof shall be as the breaking of an earthen vessel, [as] small fragments of a pitcher, so that you should not find amongst them a sherd, with which you might take up fire, and with which you should draw a little water.
It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”
15 Thus says the Lord, the Holy Lord of Israel; When you shall turn and mourn, then you shall be saved; and you shall know where you were, when you did trust in vanities: [then] your strength became vain, yet you would not listen:
For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence— but you were not willing.”
16 but you said, We will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will be aided by swift riders; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
“No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster.
17 A thousand shall flee because of the voice of one, and many shall flee on account of the voice of five; until you be left as a signal-post upon a mountain, and as one bearing an ensign upon a hill.
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.
18 And the Lord will again wait, that he may pity you, and will therefore be exalted that he may have mercy upon you: because the Lord your God is a judge: blessed are they that stay themselves upon him.
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.
19 For the holy people shall dwell in Sion: and [whereas] Jerusalem has wept bitterly, [saying], Pity me; he shall pity you: when he perceived the voice of your cry, he listened to you.
O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.
20 And [though] the Lord shall give you the bread of affliction and scant water, yet they that cause you to err shall no more at all draw near to you; for your eyes shall see those that cause you to err,
The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.
21 and your ears shall hear the words of them that went after you to lead you astray, who say, This [is] the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left.
And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
22 And you shall pollute the plated idols, and you shall grind to powder the gilt ones, and shall scatter them as the water of a removed [woman], and you shall thrust them forth as dung.
So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
23 Then shall there be rain to the seed of your land; and the bread of the fruit of your land shall be plenteous and rich: and your cattle shall feed in that day in a fertile and spacious place.
Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
24 Your bulls and your oxen that till the ground, shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley.
The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25 And there shall be upon every lofty mountain and upon every high hill, water running in that day, when many shall perish, and when the towers shall fall.
And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26 And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold in the day when the Lord shall heal the breach of his people, and shall heal the pain of your wound.
The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a [long] time, burning wrath: the word of his lips is with glory, a word full of anger, and the anger of his wrath shall devour as fire.
Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.
28 And his breath, as rushing water in a valley, shall reach as far as the neck, and be divided, to confound the nations for [their] vain error: error also shall pursue them, and overtake them.
His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.
29 Must you always rejoice, and go into my holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? and must you go with a pipe, as those that rejoice, into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel?
You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
30 And the Lord shall make his glorious voice to be heard, and the wrath of his arm, to make a display with wrath and anger and devouring flame: he shall lighten terribly, and [his wrath shall be] as water and violent hail.
And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
31 For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome, [even] by the stroke wherewith he shall strike them.
For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD; He will strike them with His scepter.
32 And it shall happen to him from every side, [that] they from whom their hope of assistance was, in which he trusted, themselves shall war against him in turn with drums and with harp.
And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished.
33 For you shall be required before [your] time: has it been prepared for you also to reign? nay, God has [prepared for you] a deep trench, wood piled, fire and much wood: the wrath of the Lord [shall be] as a trench kindled with sulphur.
For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
